Sunderland sign McAteer but miss out on Sinclair

Sunderland signed Jason McAteer from Blackburn yesterday for about £1m but their improved bid of £7m for West Ham's Trevor Sinclair has been rejected.

McAteer, the former Liverpool midfielder who had been languishing in Blackburn's reserves, agreed a three-year deal and may make his debut at Middlesbrough on Monday. "A number of clubs were interested but I wanted to come here," said the 30-year-old Republic of Ireland international. "It's been frustrating for me because I've known of Sunderland's interest for a while. I'm glad it's finally gone through."

So is the Sunderland manager Peter Reid. "Jason's a lad I was interested in about 10 years ago when I was at Manchester City and he was a young lad at Bolton. He gives us extra legs in the middle of the park and down the right-hand side." Reid is considering a third bid for Sinclair.

· Preston's manager David Moyes, who turned down the Southampton job in the sum mer because they would not allow him to bring his own assistants, has refused to rule himself out of the running for Birmingham's vacancy. The 38-year-old Scot, who signed an improved five-year deal - with escape clause - after the Southampton experience, thus joins the Crystal Palace manager Steve Bruce and the out-of-work Joe Royle as candi- dates to succeed Trevor Francis.

"I am very fortunate and honoured to be at Preston North End but if an approach came from Birmingham it is difficult to give an answer as to what I would do," Moyes said.

· David Seaman, 38, whose Arsenal contract expires at the end of the season, may succeed Bob Wilson as goalkeeping coach after the 59-year-old retires next spring. "We might need a bridge between Bob's retirement and the start of David as a coach but to keep him here is something I have in mind," said the manager Arsène Wenger.

· France's trip to Australia for a friendly next month will go ahead despite representations from the Fifa president Sepp Blatter on behalf of a host of European clubs including Arsenal and Manchester United. "I told him that the date had been decided a year ago and that nobody had spoken up at the time. When they suggested we take only one player per foreign club, I said I was not France's manager," said Claude Simonet, president of the French football federation.

· Austria's Harald Cerny is the 10th player to refuse to travel to Tel Aviv for the rearranged World Cup qualifier against Israel on October 27 after Fifa turned down Austria's request for a neutral venue.

· The UAE drew 2-2 with Oman and will meet the Asian Group A runners-up, Iran or Saudi Arabia, for the right to play Ireland for a place in the World Cup finals.

· The three ruling bodies of English football are refusing to attend their regular quarterly meeting with the Professional Footballers' Association because of the threat of a players' strike. The Premier League, Football Association and Football League are said to have "no appetite" for the meeting.